High Spatial Resolution Three-Dimensional Imaging Static Unitary Detector-Based Laser Detection and Ranging Sensor

Hyeon-June Kim,Eun-Gyu Lee,Han-Woong Choi,Choul-Young Kim

doi:10.3390/app9102145

Hyeon-June Kim, Eun-Gyu Lee + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/app9102145

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Abstract

This paper presents a static unitary detector (STUD)-based laser detection and ranging (LADAR) sensor with a 16-to-1 transimpedance-combining amplifier for high spatial resolution three-dimensional (3-D) applications. In order to readout the large size of a photodetector for better results of 3-D information without any reduction of the bandwidth, the partitioning photosensitive cell method is embedded in a 16-to-1 transimpedance-combining amplifier. The effective number of partitioning photosensitive cells and signal-combining stages are selected based on the analysis of the partitioning photosensitive cell method for the optimum performance of a transimpedance-combining amplifier. A prototype chip is fabricated in a 0.18-μm CMOS technology. The input referred noise is 41.9 pA/√Hz with a bandwidth of 230 MHz and a transimpedance gain of 70.4 dB·Ω. The total power consumption of the prototype chip is approximately 86 mW from a 1.8-V supply, and the TICA consumes approximately 15.4 mW of it.

Highlights

The high-resolution three-dimensional (3-D) time-of-flight (TOF) laser detection and ranging (LADAR) sensors have been developed in various fields such as remote sensing, 3-D imaging, geographical mapping, and range-finding [1,2,3,4,5]
The prototype static unitary detector (STUD)-based LADAR receiver with a 16-to-1 Transimpedance combining amplifier (TICA) was fabricated in a 0.18 μm CMOS process
A prototype STUD-based LADAR sensor with a 16-to-1 TICA is fully implemented for high spatial resolution 3-D imaging commercial applications

Summary

Introduction

The high-resolution three-dimensional (3-D) time-of-flight (TOF) laser detection and ranging (LADAR) sensors have been developed in various fields such as remote sensing, 3-D imaging, geographical mapping, and range-finding [1,2,3,4,5]. Many solutions such as the rotational motor (RM)-based method [6], focal-plane-array (FPA) of the photodetectors-based method [7], and the static unitary detector (STUD)-based method [8,9] have been proposed. As both RM-based and FPA-based methods have a structural limitation to increase 3-D resolution, the STUD-based method has been developed to obtain high spatial resolution 3-D images with many advantages.

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